Month: December 2015

Universities are supposed to be bustling with new ideas and be places of debate . They are supposed to be places of learning, but are they also places of brainwashing? This has been a debate for quite awhile. Many are worried that their young adults are being brainwashed, usually into secular progressiveness. I’m going to graduate soon, and I’m mulling over this issue.

First, let’s determine what this brainwashing could entail. For example, if grades were assigned based solely on whether or not the professor agreed with a paper or project, that would be a enormous problem. By contrast, how a paper should be graded does depend somewhat on the class. An English paper judges writing skill. Philosophy papers are supposed to be graded on the strength of arguments etc. Another example of brainwashing might be if only the arguments supporting a professor’s stance were showcased in the readings and lectures.

As for me, I have run into very little of this. Still, universities are supposed to be, well, universities. They are not around to coddle to ideas that haven’t been questioned before, and many students probably have many ideas that they have never questioned. They may end up changing their positions after having thought more about them. That is only natural. Perhaps, they find the ideas they were raised with untenable.

Still if any the aforementioned unfair grading practices are being used, people everywhere should speak out. Our young adults minds are precious. That being said they are adults, and if they disagree with a particular professor’s point of view they should argue with them. That’s the point of it all.

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Well, last week was finals week for me. I did a lot of studying. I, also, did a lot of stress vomiting. I consigned myself to calculating the minimum grade I needed on my finals to pass, and like I do every semester, I try to think of a better way to do end of the semester evaluations other than finals. My school like many schools doesn’t do too many Saturday and Friday classes, so there is essentially three days to study for four or more classes for full time students. Stress ensues, and I’m convinced there could be a better to evaluate a students acquired knowledge.

I, think, perhaps it would be better if students were given a week to study instead of weekend. Even though, that would lessen the amount of break students receive at the end of each semester. Now, many students might not use this week to study and then blow off studying until the weekend anyways. Still, this should not effect this “break.” Many students might procrastinate and some of them legitimately only need a weekend, but for other students it could be a god send. A week would reduce stress in a great many students lives. I think a week to study is reasonable, and I think it would work.

As always, tell me what you think!

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Life is fragile, and I don’t mean this in just the sense that we will all die one day. Everything in your personal life can fall apart, quite easily I might add. A person can, unfortunately, develop a mental disorder. Unexpected bills can pop up at the same time a person loses their job abruptly. We are all just a few short steps away from staring at the abyss. I’m not being pessimistic. I’m making a point. Everything we loves in life whether it be our health, our sanity, our possessions, or even our relationships can wither away in what seems like an instant.

Most of us teeter around thinking if we work hard and make good decisions everything will work out. Or a person may think if they have God on their side, they simply cannot fail. Well, I don’t think either of the those notions are true. Now, certainly, making good decisions and working hard can, perhaps, curb the probability of the good life in one’s favor. Still, nothing is guaranteed in life, so we end up walking around in self delusion.

Perhaps, this need for self-delusion is why people “need” religion in the first place. Perhaps, they just need to believe everything will work out the end. Unfortunately, this is often enough not the case, and yes, peoples’ lives, even religious peoples’ lives, can end up in complete tragedy.

I am not, for one moment, trying to make believers seem either weak or crazy. I cannot blame them for their needs. I think the beautiful, although inaccurate, belief that everything is going to be okay, is unavoidable. It is a very human need, and without it being fulfilled, one can easily become neurotic.

Still, I do not suggest we walk around ignoring that everything in life is fragile, but if one does work hard and strives to make good decisions, one should not dwell on the possibility that everything could be ripped out from under them. It’s simply not beneficial to our mental state.